Introduction
Many figures have existed in the history of the world that have influenced and shaped the views of the today’s world. These figures rose and fell at different times in history leaving behind their legacy that have continued to dominate the thinking of the world today. One of the chief figures in history that shaped the thinking of the world not only in those days, but also in the present world is Jesus of Nazareth (Yeshua bar Yosef). Jesus of Nazareth is known mostly because of his controversial teachings that were inconsistent with the religious thinking of those days. Many also remember him because of his alleged power to do extraordinary things such as healing the sick and taking away the ‘sin’ of other people. This paper will analyze this figure and look at how Jesus’ life influenced and enriched the thinking of today’s history.
Life of Jesus
According to the history episodes, Jesus was born in 6CE when Herod the Great was reigning as the roman emperor. He was the son of Joseph and Mary and little is known about his early years since most of historical documentaries only record about the events of his last three years of existence. Christian claims that his birth was not ordinary but divine, since according to them this was a fulfillment of a promised ‘messiah’ or savior. He grew up and then later started his teachings that many Jews in those days could not agree with since they were inconsistent with what they believed. This led to a great revolution in the Roman Empire. Jesus lived for about thirty years but the impact that he had within that period has transformed the history of the world. Jews could not agree with his teachings and they claimed Jesus was not the messiah they were expecting to deliver them from the roman authority who had oppressed them for many years (Horsley, 2010). This led to opposition and counter opposition from the Jews against Jesus that led them to plan how he could be killed. Jesus was crucified at an age of 33 years under the direction of the Roman authority who could not withstand the pressure of the Jews anymore to do away with Jesus for blasphemy accusations (Lassalle-Klein, 2009).
Jesus teachings
Jesus was known as a teacher because of his influential teachings about moral and spiritual uprightness. He used parables in his preaching to teach about various topics that were relevant to the all categories of people in the society. Some of his famous teachings include the Sermon on the Mountain, the Parable of the Lost Sheep among others that have continued to shape thinking of many people particularly Christians. Jesus also claimed that he had divine power to perform extraordinary things that Christians refer to as ‘miracles’. According to Christians, Jesus could heal the sick, raise the dead, control nature and perform other extraordinary things (Jefferson, 2010). This has raised a big debate among the scholars whether it is true that Jesus had extraordinary powers that could control extraordinary events such as the storm. Many secular scholars claim that what Christians refers to as ‘Jesus miracles’ lacked substantial evidence and could not be universally accepted. Other scholars also contend that Jesus ‘miracles’ recorded in the bible are just but a fabricated story from the early church historians. However, many Christians believe that Jesus was not only human, but also define and therefore he had ability to perform extraordinary phenomena.
Jesus Influence on history
The coming of Jesus in 6 CE changed the history of the world all the way from that period to the present world. The world history before the coming of Jesus mainly dominated by stone age events and traditional wars that were taking place among different native communities. However, the figure Jesus brought in the history a revolution group known as the Christians which has continued to shape the events of the world today(Reinhartz, 2006). Today about half of the world population are Christians and believe in the existence of Jesus. Christianity is a religion that is based on the teachings and doctrine of Jesus Christ and it has been passed from one generation to the next through preaching, teaching and practicing. Jesus teachings have been used for years to shape the moral expected behaviors and practices of different communities in the world. Many states have also used these teachings when they are making state laws depending with the proportion of population in that country that follow Christianity as their faith. In addition, there are many religious battles that have been fought in history between Christians and other religions of the world. For instance, war between Christians and Muslims is common in many state of the world since Christianity was established. These battles have continued to shape the history of the world and they could not have happen if Jesus Christ never came in the line of history. Jesus history has also influenced the World of theology by being the object of much study (Siker, 2007).
Conclusion
The trend of the world history changed with the coming of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus’ teachings have continued to influence moral and religious values of the world where many people especially Christians believe that Jesus Christ was the prophesied messiah who was to come and deliver the Jews from the Roman oppression. Christianity as a religion has continued to gain followers worldwide and this has shaped the history of the world for many years. The rise of Christianity has also led to many battles for the last twenty-one centuries starting with wars between Christians and the Jews and later among Christians and other religions of the world such as Muslims, Hindus and many others. Jesus’ teachings have also been applied in different societies and states to shape their moral values. Thus without the figure Jesus coming into the line history, the world history would have remained different.
References
Horsley, A. (2010). Jesus and the Politics of Roman Palestine. Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus, 8(2), 99-145.
Jefferson, M. (2010). The Staff of Jesus in Early Christian Art. Religion & the Arts, 14(3), 221-251.
Jeffrey S. (2007). Historicizing a Racialized Jesus: Case Studies in the "Black Christ," the "Mestizo Christ," and White Critique. Biblical Interpretation, 15(1), 26-53.
Lassalle-Klein, R. (2009). Jesus of Galilee and the crucified people: the contextual Christology of Jon Sobrino and Ignacio Ellacuría. Theological Studies, 70(2), 347-376.
Reinhartz, A. (2006). History and Pseudo-History in the Jesus Film Genre. Biblical Interpretation, 14(1/2), 1-17.
